“After attacking Herman Cain through anonymous accusers for a week, his opponents have now convinced a woman with a long history of severe financial difficulties, including personal bankruptcy, to falsely accuse the Republican front-runner of events occurring over a decade ago for which there is no record, nor even a complaint filed,” said Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon.

Beyond the charges themselves, the widening scandal is now threatening Cain in another way: The story has begun to loom so heavily over the GOP race that it’s irritating Republicans who want to focus on defeating President Barack Obama.

With Bialek’s explosive press conference being replayed across TV, radio and the Internet — and the Chicagoan offering fresh comments in cable and network interviews Monday night with more planned for Tuesday morning — the allegations of what are now four former National Restaurant Association employees against Cain are sure to keep consuming the political conversation.

“The American people and specifically Republican primary voters need some closure on this and really only he can do that,” said Oran Smith, who heads the Christian conservative Palmetto Family Council in South Carolina.

Smith, who has met Cain and calls himself “a fan” of the businessman, said the candidate’s plain-spoken manner has GOP activists conditioned to expect more candor.

“They’re used to hearing him take things straight up, so in a sense he’s put himself in a position where he has to confront this,” said the social conservative leader. “But that’s not what we’ve gotten so far.”

Another early state social conservative suggested Cain take an extreme measure to extinguish the story.

“Maybe he’s at a point of the crisis where he needs to say, ‘I’ll take a lie detector test,’” said Chuck Hurley, the president of the Iowa Family Policy Center and a longtime Republican there who is uncommitted in the race.

Hurley’s advice: “Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help him God and stand by that.”

But even without Cain’s full side of the story out, some veteran conservatives were growing increasingly uneasy in the hours after Bialek made her claims.

Two conservatives even raised the specter of Bill Clinton — a loaded reference for Republicans to invoke in a story involving another Republican and a sex scandal.